Don’t Be a Fool on April 1st or Any Other Day
Are You a Doubting Thomas?
Photo by Tim Wildsmith on Unsplash
The Gospel for Sunday April 16th contains the verses related to Doubting Thomas. Thomas would not believe the other Apostles who told him they had seen the risen Christ. He said he would only believe when he could put his hands into the nail marks from the crucifixion. When he was able to do that "Thomas answered and said to him, 'My Lord and my God!' Jesus said to him, 'Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.'" (John 20:27-29)
Just like Thomas's doubts, we have met a lot of people who were a “Doubting Thomas” when they learned that Compass Catholic teaches people how to manage money and possessions according to the Bible.
Most people don't think that God has anything to do with their finances and they are astounded to find that there are over 2,500 verses in the Bible that relate to money and possessions. There are fewer than 500 verses on prayer and about 500 verses on faith. More than half of the parables are related to money and fifteen percent of everything Jesus said had to do with money.
Why does the Bible say so much about money? Probably because God knew how much we would deal with money and how tempting it is for us to misuse it. Think about how much time you spend on a daily basis making money, spending money or using something you bought with money – almost 100 percent of our time is somehow related to money. If we truly want to live our faith, it is imperative that we know how to use money wisely according to God’s will.
We live in a world defined by Madison Avenue. Advertisers tell us that we should get everything we want when we want it because we deserve it. The most popular television shows are reality shows that allow us to put ourselves in the place of the contestants as they vie for big money and exotic trips. If we could only own this or that, have more money, live in that neighborhood, or drive that car then we would finally be happy.
Easy credit can provide whatever we desire. We are influenced to think that having more things means a better life, which leads us to want everything we see. The more we watch TV, surf the net, get involved in social media, read magazines and listen to the radio, the more money we spend in an unending quest to be happy. Commercials barrage us with almost non-stop advertising – it’s everywhere! We even pay a premium for the privilege of wearing advertising on our clothes.
Just as Thomas had to physically touch Jesus to believe he was the risen Christ, we invite anyone who is a “Doubting Thomas” about the faith aspect of finances to experience the joy, peace and contentment that comes from learning what the Bible teaches us about how to handle money and possessions. The Compass Catholic Bible studies and books give you the opportunity for a conversion experience just as Thomas had.
No matter how much stuff we want, or how much stuff we have, we can never find happiness or fulfillment in things. True fulfillment can only be reached through a life in Christ.
Do you doubt that?
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About the Author
A Faithful Steward is an outreach of Compass Catholic Ministries. The mission of Compass Catholic Ministries is to inspire individuals and families to unite their faith and finances by providing information and tools, illuminated by our Catholic faith, allowing them to become financially unburdened and able to say “yes” to God’s call. We hope that our blog posts and articles will help Catholics to put their faith into action using their finances to carry out and continue the work of Jesus Christ on earth.
